In a stunning upset, Americans elected Republican Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in the wee hours of the morning November 9.
With control of the presidency, House, Senate, and at least one Supreme Court seat to fill, the GOP will have the opportunity to make sweeping changes in the next four years.
The positions Trump and his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton had on environmental issues couldn’t be more different.
Most notably, she accepts climate change as a human-caused reality, while he does not.The scientific debate about climate change has ended, largely because it’s been an obvious, observable reality for decades now that humans are causing warming global temperatures, and the host of problems that come with them.
While Hillary Clinton listed "Protecting animals and wildlife" and "Climate change" as two major topics on her campaign website, Trump didn't include anything about the environment.
Here's where President-elect Trump stands on key environmental issues, based on positions outlined on his campaign website and public statements before Election Day.
Climate change
At the first presidential debate September 26, Clinton brought up her and Trump's differences on climate change. Here's how the exchange unfolded:
CLINTON: Some country is going to be the clean- energy superpower of the 21st century. Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. I think it's real.
TRUMP: I did not. I did not. I do not say that.
CLINTON: I think science is real.
TRUMP: I do not say that.
As many news organizations pointed out after the debate, Trump tweeted in 2012 that "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
He has tweeted dozens of times about how he does not accept the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real. You can read all of his tweets that have mentioned "climate change" or "global warming" here.
Trump wants to dismantle the Paris Agreement that sets targets to reverse the worst effects of global warming, which nearly 200 countries agreed to last December.
In response to a question about his views on climate change on ScienceDebate, Trump implied that the US shouldn't waste "financial resources" on climate change and should instead use them to ensure the world has clean water, eliminate diseases like malaria, increase food production, or develop alternative energy sources.
"There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of 'climate change,'" he said. "We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous."
Water
Over the past several years, the western states have suffered from one of the worst droughts in US history. California is in its fifth straight year of severe drought, which has put considerable stress on crops and water use. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given infrastructure across the country "D" grades for dams, drinking water, and wastewater.
Trump says clean water may be the "most important issue we face as a nation for the next generation," and it will be a "top priority" for his administration.
"We must make the investment in our fresh water infrastructure to ensure access to affordable fresh water solutions for everyone," he said on ScienceDebate. "We must explore all options to include making desalinization more affordable and working to build the distribution infrastructure to bring this scarce resource to where it is needed for our citizens and those who produce the food of the world."
Desalination is the costly process of removing salt from ocean water to make it potable. While many scientists view it as a last-resort option for drought-stricken areas, researchers have made small advancements in recent years that has made the process incrementally more efficient. A $1 billion desalination plant that opened in December 2015 provides 50 million gallons of water a day to Carlsbad, California.
Conservation
Trump has said he wants to keep public lands in the control of the federal government, a position that his Republican opponents criticized him for during the primary. He hasn't announced positions on other conservation issues.
"In a Trump administration, there will be shared governance of our public lands and we will empower state and local governments to protect our wildlife and fisheries," he said on ScienceDebate. "Laws that tilt the scales toward special interests must be modified to balance the needs of society with the preservation of our valuable living resources."